Make School

Make School
Name	Make School
Established	2013
Type	Private coding academy
City	San Francisco
State	California
Country	United States

Make School Make School was a private, for-profit coding academy and software engineering college founded in San Francisco in 2013 that offered accelerated programs in applied computer science and software development. The institution operated within the Bay Area technology ecosystem and intersected with numerous companies, investors, academic institutions, and regulatory bodies before ceasing independent operations. It engaged with prominent technology firms, venture capital firms, accreditation agencies, and legal entities during its existence.

History

Make School was founded in 2013 during the era of rapid growth in bootcamp-style technology education alongside organizations such as General Assembly, Hack Reactor, Flatiron School, App Academy, and Lambda School. Early development involved partnerships and discussions with San Francisco State University, City College of San Francisco, and private investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and angel investors associated with YC networks. The school navigated regulatory landscapes involving the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education and accreditation processes with regional bodies like the WASC Senior College and University Commission. Leadership changes echoed patterns seen at peer institutions such as Holberton School and Galvanize, while growth strategies referenced curricular models from Carnegie Mellon University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Stanford University. Make School’s timeline included fundraising, program expansion, campus moves near Market Street (San Francisco), and eventual operational transitions influenced by events affecting the wider sector including policy shifts in California Assembly and labor market changes tied to companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon.

Programs and Curriculum

Make School designed applied curriculum drawing inspiration from courses at Stanford University, Harvard University, UC Berkeley, Cornell University, and Princeton University. Programs emphasized full-stack development with stacks and tools used at firms such as Github, Atlassian, Stripe, Salesforce, Twilio, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Docker, and Kubernetes. Coursework included mobile development aligning with platforms from Apple Inc. and Google LLC, web frameworks prevalent at Facebook, Inc. and LinkedIn Corporation, and software engineering practices used at Netflix and Uber Technologies, Inc.. Instructors often came from backgrounds at Palantir Technologies, Dropbox, Stripe, Airbnb, and Square, Inc.. The curriculum referenced pedagogical techniques from Project-based learning proponents at institutions like Olin College of Engineering and coding exercise models similar to those promoted by Codecademy and Khan Academy.

Campus and Facilities

Make School’s campus was located in San Francisco near technology corridors frequented by companies such as Salesforce Tower, Twitter, Inc., Pinterest, and YouTube (company). Facilities included classrooms and labs equipped with hardware and software common to startups and enterprise developers from Intel Corporation, NVIDIA, and AMD. Student spaces hosted hackathons and meetups drawing participants connected to TechCrunch, Y Combinator, 500 Startups, and Plug and Play Tech Center. Nearby coworking and accelerator spaces included WeWork, Industrious, and Galvanize (company), and students interfaced with recruiting events attended by representatives from Cisco Systems, Oracle Corporation, IBM, and SAP SE.

Admissions and Tuition

Admissions processes mirrored models used by coding schools like Hack Reactor and university-affiliated bootcamps at University of California, Berkeley Extension programs, featuring technical assessments and portfolio reviews similar to practices at General Assembly and Flatiron School. Tuition and financing options referenced loan and income-sharing arrangements debated in relation to proposals in the California State Legislature and consumer protection actions by the Federal Trade Commission. Prospective students evaluated cost against hiring outcomes at companies such as Amazon Web Services, Accenture, Deloitte, Capgemini, EY, and PwC.

Partnerships and Industry Connections

Make School forged partnerships and networks with technology companies, venture firms, and university programs including ties to LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, Udacity, and edX-adjacent efforts. Industry advisory relationships drew on hiring managers and engineers from Facebook, Google, Apple, Stripe, Airbnb, Uber Technologies, Inc., Square, Inc., Dropbox, Palantir Technologies, Atlassian, Salesforce, Netflix, Pinterest, Slack Technologies, Asana, Reddit, Snap Inc., DoorDash, Lyft, Instacart, Zillow Group, Box, Inc., Workday, Inc., and Qualtrics. Investors and sponsors included venture firms such as Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund, Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Benchmark (venture capital firm), Accel Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, GV (venture capital) and accelerators like Y Combinator and 500 Startups.

Outcomes and Alumni

Graduates pursued roles at a diverse set of companies including Google, Facebook, Apple Inc., Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix, Airbnb, Uber Technologies, Inc., Stripe, Dropbox, Salesforce, Palantir Technologies, Pinterest, Square, Inc., Atlassian, Slack Technologies, LinkedIn, Reddit, Snap Inc., DoorDash, Lyft, Instacart, Zillow Group, Shopify, GitHub, Twilio, Cloudflare, Shopify, Databricks, Snowflake (company), NVIDIA, Intel Corporation, SAP SE, Oracle Corporation, Cisco Systems, IBM, Accenture, Deloitte, Capgemini, EY, PwC, and startups funded by Sequoia Capital or Andreessen Horowitz. Alumni engagement resembled networks maintained by institutions such as Stanford University alumni chapters and startup communities at Silicon Valley incubators.

Controversies and Legal Issues

Make School’s operational history involved scrutiny similar to that faced by other coding academies, engaging with regulatory bodies like the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education and consumer protection inquiries by entities akin to the Federal Trade Commission. Legal and reputational matters paralleled disputes seen with schools such as Flatiron School and Udacity in areas including outcome reporting, accreditation negotiations with agencies like WASC Senior College and University Commission, and contractual questions involving investors such as Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital. Public discussions involved student advocacy groups, local policymakers in San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and media coverage from outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The San Francisco Chronicle, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Wired, Forbes, and Bloomberg News.

Category:Defunct coding schools